Montana legislator introduces bills to give his state its own science

Enlarge / The Montana State
Capitol building, site of a rather unusual hearing. (credit:Montana.gov)

It’s no secret that some of our federal legislators don’t have a
firm grip on scientific evidence; it only takes watching a session
of the House Science Committee, where one member suggested the
climate-driven rise of the oceans might instead be caused by
rocks falling into the ocean.

What’s often overlooked is that state legislators are even worse
(though it’s not clear how much this is a product of there simply
being more of them). Each year, they oversee a variety of attempts
to
introduce pseudoscience into the public schools of a number of
states.

But it recently came out that a legislator in Montana was
attempting to have the state officially renounce the findings of
the scientific community. And, if the federal government decides to
believe the scientists and do something about emissions, he wants
the Treasure State to somehow sit those efforts out.